A group of scientists from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) has discovered new species of deep-sea fish in a joint study with scientists from the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) and the French institute
IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement). This study is one of the results stemming from the oceanographic expeditions of the ABRACOS (Acoustics along the BRAzilian COaSt) project carried out in 2015 and 2017 off the northeastern region of Brazil, including the Fernando de Noronha chain, formed by the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, the Rocas atoll and a series of associated seamounts.
During these expeditions, some 9,000 fish specimens were collected between the surface and 1100 meters depth, including five new species of dragon-fish of the order Stomiiformes.
Eustomias ophioglossa, specimen 162 mm long, collected off the Fernando de Noronha archipelago at a depth of 850 metres
In this study, the authors pay tribute to the coordinators of the ABRACOS project, Arnaud BERTRAND (IRD/MARBEC) and Flávia LUCENA-FRÉDOU (UFRPE), by naming two of the new species (Eustomias bertrandi and Eustomias lucenae, respectively). The leadership and work of these researchers have been fundamental to the success of these expeditions, providing access to oceanographic samples and data that have been used by dozens of undergraduate and postgraduate students in various fields of oceanography and marine biology.
To know more
Press release
https://www.ird.fr/decouverte-de-cinq-nouvelles-especes-de-poissons-dragons-au-bresil
Contact MARBEC : Leandro Nolé Eduardo
References
Eduardo LN, Bertrand A, Lucena-Frédou F, Villarins BT, Martins JR, Afonso GVF, Pietsch TW, Frédou T, Di Dario F, Mincarone MM. 2022. Rich and underreported: First integrated assessment of the diversity of mesopelagic fishes in the southwestern tropical Atlantic. Frontiers in Marine Science 9: 937154. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.937154
Villarins BT, Fischer LG, Prokofiev AM, Mincarone MM. 2023. A new species of dragonfish genus Melanostomias (Stomiidae: Melanostomiinae) from the western tropical Atlantic. Ichthyology & Herpetology, 111: 254–63. https://doi.org/10.1643/i2022082
Villarins BT, Fischer LG, Prokofiev AM, Mincarone MM. 2023. Four new species of dragonfish genus Eustomias (Stomiiformes: Stomiidae: Melanostomiinae) from the western tropical Atlantic, with remarks on Eustomias minimus Clarke, 1999. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad163